Harvest Moon
by boredanddelirious
Summary: Ever wondered what happened the night Snape found out how to get past the Whomping Willow? Set in Marauder'sMWPP era. Lily Evans' POV. PG13 for language. Please read & review. )
1. Chapter One: Detention

disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing, otherwise I'd be sitting on 1 billion bucks.   
A/N: This is what I think likely happened when Sirius tried to get Snape killed by telling him out to get near Lupin under a full moon.   
I thought this was one piece of history that needed some filling in. I hope I'm accurately representing the characters and their (possible) relationships at this time. Please read and review. 

A feeling of shame and embarassment was settling in Lily Evans' stomach. _Why did I snap like that? I shouldn't have stooped to their level..._. 

As she reached the door to her usual transfiguration classroom she braced herself: she couldn't let it show that she was angry, whether or not they knew she was angry at herself, rather than at them. 

She knocked and entered. But before the door could close behind her, Sirius Black entered the room, looking slightly out of breath. 

"Evans, Black," said Professor McGonagall crisply from her teacher's desk, "take your seats, please." 

Lily turned to the rows of desks and chairs among which two people were already seated. Snape was sitting in his usual seat near the lefthand side of the room, on the edge of the aisle. Sirius headed for his normal seat across the aisle from Snape but a few rows behind; Lily took hers directly ahead of Sirius but two rows in front of Snape. 

Glancing to her right she saw the back of Bellatrix Black sitting in a seat near the righthand side of the classroom, looking out the window. As if sensing Lily's gaze, the seventh-year Slytherin glanced around to give Lily a scathing and disgusted look and returned to staring out the window. 

Taking a deep, silent breath, Lily again suffused her anger (this time towards Bellatrix), and looked to McGonagall. 

"Now," the professor began, "you all know what you are here for, so I see no reason to delay your detention punishments." She stood up and headed towards the chalkboard that lined the front wall of the room. 

_Yes, I know why were here. Sirius and Snape are stupid gits, I'm an idiot, and Bellatrix -- well, Bellatrix is just a bitch._

McGonagall tapped her wand to the board where the sentence **I must not duel in the corridor** suddenly appeared. "Now, I want you all to copy this sentence -" 

"And how many times will we be writing it, professor?" asked Sirius in a tone of mock-cheeriness, tilting his chair backwards. 

"You will continue writing until I tell you to stop," replied McGonagall icily. 

_Well, that's not so bad_. But after she had several feet of parchment covered it struck Lily that McGonagall had chosen quite a fitting punishment. She would have much rather have been doing something like cleaning the Trophy room by hand, or something a little less tedious than writing lines. Glancing around at the others, Lily observed that the others looked just as bored as she was. Sirius was slouched in his chair, writing very slowly, apparently unaware that his left leg was streched out in the aisle, his foot jiggling as if it had been jinxed to do so; Snape was writing studiously but his large nose was quite far from the paper -- a definite indication of boredom for Snivelly; And Bellatrix had her quill poised on the parchment, but appeared to be in a daze and wasn't writing at all. Lily's hand ached and despite the fact that it was still light outside, she felt as if she had been writing for a whole night. She blinked hard and continued writing. _A fine choice of punishment indeed, McGonagall_. 

As nighttime began to fall and the candles flickered into light there was a knock on the door. Professor Flickwick, their squeaky Charms teacher and McGonagall stepped just outside the classroom, into the hallway to have a whispered discussion. Lily took the opportunity to rub her tired eyes and stretch her arms. It had certainly been a long day. 

"Psst." _Uhg, what now?_ Lily slowly turned in her seat. "Psst, Snivelly." _Who was he kidding? Why can't Sirius just leave Snape alone?_ She turned to see Sirius leaning forward to get Snape's attention, an expression of nothing but vicious loathing on his face. Snape was still staring at his parchment but was no longer writing, his head slightly turned towards Sirius, his face full of hate. 


	2. Chapter Two: The Fight

disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing, otherwise I'd be sitting on 1 billion bucks.   
A/N: This is what I think likely happened when Sirius tried to get Snape killed by telling him how to get near Lupin under a full moon. Set in Marauder's/MWPP era, in their 6th year. Lily's POV.   
I thought this was one piece of history that needed some filling in. I hope I'm accurately representing the characters and their (possible) relationships at this time. Please read and review.   
-------------------------- 

"You want to know how to get past the whomping willow?" Sirius glanced around after he said this and noticed Lily listening, his eyebrows raised in a phoney look of polite curiousity. "Can I help you, Evans?" a strong note of sarcasm in his voice, he obviously didn't appreciate her eavesdropping. 

"No," Lily said simply with the same amount of sarcasm, and turned back to her parchment. 

Sirius continued in a quieter voice, but straining her ears, Lily could still hear him. "So do you want to know how to get past the willow?" Still, Snape said nothing. "Just prod the knot at the base of the trunk with a stick and it'll freeze." At this point McGonagall had finished her conversation with Flitckwick and returned to her desk. All the students promptly resumed their writing. 

"Evans, Snape: you're free to go." _Good old McGonagall, making those who deserve the most punishment stay longer._

Snape quickly gathered up his belongings and hurriedly left the classroom. Lily stuffed her quill and extra parchment into her bag and with a curious glance at Sirius's smirking face, walked out of the classroom. 

_Well, it certainly has been a weird day. I just wish I still didn't have that arithmancy essay to write..._. 

_Of course, I would have had it done already if I hadn't been stuck in detention!_ Lily recalled the day's events...after lunch the sixth-year Slytherins and Gryffindors were waiting outside the Transfiguration classroom, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were talking quietly, no doubt waiting for their friends Remus Lupin and Potter. A group of Slytherins were passing by as they were waiting. Bellatrix Black had bumped into Lily -- _probably on purpose, now that I think about it_ -- and said "Watch it, mudblood!". 

Before Lily had a chance to respond Siruis Black's stepped forward, "Watch your mouth, Bella!" Despite the animosity between Lily and Potter's gang of friends, Potter, Sirius & co still lept to defend Lily Evans or any other muggle-born or halfblood that was insulted. Upon reflection, she realized that Sirius probably wouldn't mind getting in a fight with his vicious cousin, either. Lily had heard that Sirius had had a "falling out" with his family; he rarely spoke to anyone in the Black family now, and pretended his younger brother Regulus didn't exist. 

"Well, well," Bellatrix had responded. "If it isn't the black sheep of the Black family!" 

"Why don't you go jinx yourself, Bella?" Sirius who was now holding his wand out threatenly. 

"Oh...is wittle See-wee-us angwy for a change? Standing up for your wee half-bweed fwends, are we?" replied Bellatrix using that annoying baby-voice she does. 

This was too much for Sirius; he shot out a spell but Bellatrix blocked it and sent out one of her own, but Sirius deflected it and it hit Snape, who had been standing a small distance away from the fight. Sirius hadn't noticed this and continued duelling with Bellatrix, but Snape had whipped out his wand and shot a spell back at Sirius. Next thing Lily knew, Sirius was fighting both Bellatrix and Snape, but Sirius had stunned Snape before long and continued agaisnt Bellatrix. 

Lily's frustration with all three of these people got the better of her -- she wished they could all stop fighting and acting like such gits all the time! She sent out a spell to both Sirius and Bellatrix, her anger rising. As both of them fell and then rose; Sirius with a mixture of annoyance and confusion on his face, Bellatrix with hate. Realizing she had better do something more productive, Lily yelled "Expelliarmus!" pointing at both Bellatrix and Sirius. Bellatrix quickly recovered and sent a spell towards Lily but she deflected it and it hit -- James Potter! Potter was winded and knocked backwards into Lupin who stumbled but caught him. She noticed Remus had been looking ill again, lately. One of these days she meant to ask him if he was all right. Several muggle diseases popped into her mind... But he was always surrounded by Potter, Sirius and Peter: there was never the chance to ask him. Maybe they did it on purpose to annoy her. _Now I'm just being paranoid. _ Maybe they do it to protect him, or something. It's strange, but despite all the things she hated about those boys she had to respect their loyalty to each other. 

"What the heck are you guys doing? What's going on?" asked James -- I mean, Potter -- in a breathless voice 

"I should like to know the same thing!" Apparently McGonagall had arrived the same time as Potter and Lupin. 

McGonagall stared around beadily at the crowd of students. 

"B - Bellatrix attacked Sirius and Evans, Professor!" piped up Pettigrew. 

"That's a lie," hissed Snape as he got up from the floor. "He attacked her." 

Lily then explained what had actually happened to the transfiguration teacher. They each had twenty house points taken from them and recieved detention. 

Later that day between classes Lily had walked into yet another fight between Sirius and Snape -- only this time Potter was there too. Rather than duelling, though they seemed to be having a heated argument. She lingered there for a moment, until Potter spotted her -- his hand automatically messed up his hair -- and caught her eye and looked as if he was going to say something. She turned around, rolling her eyes. She'd had enough of their stupid fights. She wasn't going to bother being referee anymore. It just wasn't worth it. Snape was a biggot and very bitter (but that could probably be blamed on a certain Gryffindor in Lily's year!) and Sirius and Potter were misguided bullies who thought themselves heroes for the muggle-borns. Not that muggle-borns didn't need defending, but the way those guys went about it was all wrong. They had spent so much time bullying and humiliating Snape in the name of "defending" people like Lily, when they were just as bad as the bigots who called her a "mudblood". That wasn't the right way to fight people who agreed with megalomaniacs like You-Know -- _Voldemort! Dumbledore said we shouldn't fear his name, that we should call him Voldemort._

She couldn't curb her curiousity, though. Lately she had noticed a distincly venomous enmity between Snape and Sirius; far beyond what was between Snape and James (if that was believable!). It was subtle, but it was there. She wondered though, if part of it had to do with issues with his family, or maybe it was just out of his loyalty to Potter? Potter, on the otherhand had recently had the audacity of trying to not be so much of a prick lately. As if that would make her like him better. But even if she even remotely felt the slightest bit attracted to him, she would never, never like him that way. He was too much of an egotistical ass. Never. _Why does he keep trying to get in my good books? Why doesn't he just give up already? Uhg. I spend far too much time pondering the minds of those idiots._

She gave herself a mental shake as she reached the Fat Lady's portrait. "Bubbly Broomsticks," she said and crawled through the hole in the wall into the Gryffindor Common Room. 


	3. Chapter Three: ChitChat

disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing, otherwise I'd be sitting on 1 billion bucks.   
A/N: This is what I think likely happened when Sirius tried to get Snape killed by telling him how to get near Lupin under a full moon. Set in Marauder's/MWPP era, in their 6th year. Lily's POV.   
I thought this was one piece of history that needed some filling in. I hope I'm accurately representing the characters and their (possible) relationships at this time. Please read and review.   
I should also note that I've done a _slight_ tweaking of The Most Ancient and Noble Black Family Tree. So I guess the story now falls under the category of A/U (alternate universe). But it doesn't widely affect the plot, and it is only a minor character that gets tweaked into the story, so I hope I am right in believing that the purists will forgive me? ;-)   
-------------------------- 

The Common Room was strangely deserted, but the pungent smell of dungbombs gave her the answer as to why. 

She cast a charm on the room to make it smell better. It didn't make it go away completely, but it was better than nothing. She wondered why nobody had bothered doing something about it. 

She headed for the girl's dormitories. In her room she found her fellow sixth-year girls and her best friend, Tibby Black. Tibby was the younger sister of Bellatrix Black, and cousin to Sirius. Sirius's astrangement from his family didn't include Tibby, as Tibby was included on Sirius's exclusive list of family members he didn't hate: Sirius was also on a similar list belonging to Tibby. Since Tibby's Dad had died earlier that year she had been living with her eldest sister Andromeda and her brother-in-law, Ted. 

Tibby was sitting on her bed with a textbook open in front of her and various pieces of parchment and notes arrayed around her in total chaos, as was her working style. 

"Lil!" She said brightly, shutting the book. "How was detention? Scrub the bedpans til they sparkled, did you?" 

Flopping down on her own bed, Lily said "No, unfortunately. McGonagall made us write lines." 

"But that's not too bad! Probably a bit tiresome, but at least you didn't have to do muggle-cleaning." 

"I'd rather have cleaned. I bet you anything when I try to write that arithmancy essay every other sentence will be 'I must not duel in the corridor', it's that ingrained into my brain." 

"Ha ha. Oh well. Served its purpose then didn't it?" 

Lily threw a pillow at her friend who laughed and threw it back. 

"But I've still got to do the essay." Lily glanced over at her other roommates who were chattering away. "I think I'm going go work in the Common Room, where it's quieter." 

Tibby made a face of disgust; "Quieter, but stinkier. Some of the first years set off dung bombs." then she added in a desperate and dramatic voice, "And none of the Prefects were there to do something about it!" she laughed again. 

"Well one of the Prefects was in detention, unfortunately." 

"Tsk, tsk. A Prefect in detention, not a good way to set an example, is it, Lil?" she said jokingly. 

"Oh hush! Now that you mention it, Remus should have been around..." she broke off as she remembered his looking ill earlier in the day. 

"Well, he's always catching a cold or something and misses a day or so." Tibby stopped talking as well, looking unsettled. "You know, I've often meant to ask him what's wrong with him. I guess it's not very polite, to ask, I mean...but I can't help but wonder....though it's a rare occasion when I have a one-on-one conversation with Remus Lupin." 

"Yeah, I've been wondering and thinking the same thing." After a moment she sighed. "Well, I had better get going on this essay." 


	4. Chapter Four: In The Common Room

**disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing, otherwise I'd be sitting on 1 billion bucks.   
A/N: This is what I think likely happened when Sirius tried to get Snape killed by telling him how to get near Lupin under a full moon. Set in Marauder's/MWPP era, in their 6th year. Lily's POV.   
I thought this was one piece of history that needed some filling in. I hope I'm accurately representing the characters and their (possible) relationships at this time. Please read and review.   
I should also note that I've done a _slight_ tweaking of The Most Ancient and Noble Black Family Tree. So I guess the story now falls under the category of A/U (alternate universe). But it doesn't widely affect the plot, and it is only a minor character that gets tweaked into the story, so I hope I am right in believing that the purists will forgive me? ;-)**   
P.S. - Thanks so much to everyone for reading and reviewing!   
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She got her books and parchment and headed for the door. 

"Hey!" Tibby called, "It still smells down there..." 

"Oh, I put a Refreshing Charm on the room. It doesn't smell that bad anymore." 

"Really? I've never been able to do that kind of stuff. Andromeda keeps trying to teach me, but it just doesn't stick. I guess I wasn't meant to clean! ...Or maybe she's just not a good teacher. Anyways, hang on a bit. I've just about had it with Potions work for tonight, but I'm going to grab my book and join you downstairs." 

"What are you reading?" Lily asked as they decended the staircase into the Common Room. 

"Oh, it's actually quite interesting. It's a muggle novel Ted lent me." 

"Really? Which one?" 

"That's the funny part. It's called "The Lord Of The Rings" and it's about wizards and dwarves and trolls and things. Only they're all wrong 'cause this author was just making it up! Though there are some similarities, he had no notion of our world at all, that much is obvious...but it's such a good story, despite the inaccuracies. But there's a lot of other creatures in it too that aren't real. Like walking trees and hobbits and things." 

Lily was then reminded of Sirius talking to Snape about the Whomping Willow. The two girls sat at the big window seat in the Common Room. Looking at the darkening sky, she said "Can you think of any reason someone would want to go near the Whomping Willow?" 

Tibby shrugged. "Idunno...someone who fancies big fighting trees, maybe? Why do you ask?" 

"Oh, it's probably nothing, but Sirius said something about it to Snape during detention and I'm just a bit curious, I guess." 

"Hmph. Well, I've long given up on trying to fathom the minds of teenaged boys, so I can't help you there." Tibby opened her book. 

"I take it you still haven't talked to Gideon, then?" 

Tibby looked embarassed, but still had her eyes on her book. "No, and I don't intend to." 

"Oh come on! You like him! You should at least talk to the guy!" 

Tibby heaved a great sigh and put down the book. "Talk to him about what? Besides, he's a year older, I don't have any classes with him so I hardly ever see him, there's no possible opportunity for --" 

She stopped speaking abbruptly as they heard footsteps from the Boys' Dormitory stairs. Tibby was always paranoid that Gideon or his brother Fabian or someone might overhear her speaking about what she termed "a delicate subject". She didn't want anyone other than Lily to know about her liking Gideon Prewett. 

The fire in the Common Room had been reduced to burning embers now, so there was very little light except for the moon, which dimly shone through the clouds through the window and onto Lily's untouched arithmancy work. 

As if by instinct the two remained silent as they now heard voices of two people entering the room. 

"...I can't believe you fell asleep!" Lily instantly recognized the voice as James Potter's. 

"Well, it's always best to get some rest before...especially since last month we didn't get back until 4 am!" She also recognized the second, slightly whining, voice of Peter Pettigrew. 

"Yeah but you even forgot it was the full moon, Wormtail! Honestly," James laughed a little, "sometimes I wonder if you're going senile at an early age. You should have yourself checked out. You can ask Pomfrey when she checks out Moony tomorrow." 

"Ha ha" said Peter derisively. "But in any case it does help to be well rested when looking after a werewolf." 

Lily's eyes met Tibby's whose brows were furrowed in confusion and surprise. The two Gryffindor boys obviously didn't realize they weren't alone. 

"Keep it down, would you? Someone upstairs might hear. I don't think we want to be responsible for the whole House knowing Remus is a werewolf." Potter said in a hushed voice. 

Lily saw Tibby's eyes widen with shock, mirroring how Lily felt. _Lupin was a werewolf? But he seemed so nice!_

"Well, it's all right, isn't it? We set off those dung bombs and blamed it on those first-years, remember? There's nobody down here now." 

"That's where you're wrong." said Tibby, who sounded as surprised as everyone else looked and felt. 

------------   
A/N: These chapters are unedited. But eventually I'll re-post 'em without the mistakes! 


	5. Chapter Five: Discovery

**disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing, otherwise I'd be sitting on 1 billion bucks.   
A/N: This is what I think likely happened when Sirius tried to get Snape killed by telling him how to get near Lupin under a full moon. Set in Marauder's/MWPP era, in their 6th year. Lily's POV.   
I thought this was one piece of history that needed some filling in. I hope I'm accurately representing the characters and their (possible) relationships at this time. Please read and review.   
I should also note that I've done a _slight_ tweaking of The Most Ancient and Noble Black Family Tree. So I guess the story now falls under the category of A/U (alternate universe). But it doesn't widely affect the plot, and it is only a minor character (who I'm starting to quite enjoy writing!) that gets tweaked into the story, so I hope I am right in believing that the purists will forgive me? ;-)**   
  
-------------------------- 

James and Peter whipped around from where they had been having their conversation. Lily noticed Potter was holding some silvery material bunched up in his hand. 

"Tibby! Evans!" He was surprised enough that he hadn't lowered his voice to speak to Lily, as he usually did. 

"Remus Lupin is a werewolf?" said Tibby. 

"Oh my goodness." That was all Lily could say. _It all makes sense now! That's why my fellow Prefect is always looking ill, why he misses classes, why..._ Her thoughts were interrupted by Tibby speaking again. 

Tibby had gotten up, her book falling to the floor. "How? How?" 

"Look -- Tibby, look. It's not what you think!" James was trying to make up for the mess he had created. 

"Not what I think? James, in case you didn't know, a werewolf is a very dangerous creature --!" 

"Keep your voice down!" whispered James. 

"Now, I know this is Remus we're talking about, but you can't blame us for being a little bit alarmed that he's a werewolf! He's dangerous no matter which way you look at it!" 

Peter looked nervously at Tibby, Lily, and James. "It's not as bad as that, really." said Peter in a would-be calm voice. Peter had always seemed a little scared of Tibby, or so Lily had observed. 

"Does Dumbledore know?" said Lily, getting up to stand beside Tibby. 

James seemed to be fighting something within himself for a moment, then sighed. "Yes, he knows." he said angrily and scratched his messy head of black hair. "And he has put in place -- certain precautions -- so that Remus can't hurt anyone when he transforms. And that's the only time he can hurt anyone." 

"So...so he's not dangerous?" Tibby said slowly. 

"No!" said James. 

"This is so wierd," Tibby plopped herself down on to the couch by the fireplace near where she had been standing. "I always thought that werewolves were dangerous, and ... and bad," she added lamely. "But Remus is --" 

"But Remus is not." James finished for her, as if to press the point. 

"Well, no!" Tibby replied. 

"Look," started Peter "you really can't tell anyone." 

"That's right. You can't. It was stupid of us to even be talking about it so openly...but I guess we've been a bit careless." James' gaze went from the two girls to the fireplace, he was really ashamed of himself for letting it slip. 

"I --" Tibby was still apparently having trouble grasping the concept of a good werewolf: being brought up in a wizarding family like her's she probably grew up believing werewolves were evil, instead of not knowing they existed, as Lily had. "Of course I won't. Neither of us will." 

"Yeah, " chimed in Lily. "It's not your secret to tell, let alone ours." 

James groaned and leaned against the fireplace mantle. "I don't know how I'm going to tell Remus I spilled his beans for him. I'm such an idiot." 

Lily shocked herself by thinking the opposite for a moment. But before it had occured to her to relay that in words Tibby said "Yeah, well, we already know you're an idiot, so no suprises there." 

James laughed dryly. "Oh, thanks Tibby. You should use that as a pep-talk for our next match." Tibby played on and was captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, so she and James were somewhat friends. She dissaproved of his bullying behaviour as much as Lily did, but for the sake of the team Tibby and James managed to be friends, most of the time. 

"But seriously," continued Tibby, ignoring the sarcasm in his comment, "what kind of precautions are there to prevent Remus from biting someone? What if he got loose by accident?" 

James and Peter exchanged a look. Peter said to James "It can't hurt telling them now, I think..." 

Potter sighed again. "Well, every night of the full moon he goes to a house in Hogsmeade where he's locked up and can't hurt anyone." 

"But how does he get there before it's dark? It takes a while to get to Hogsmeade...what does he do in winter when it's dark even before dinner?" said Lily. 

"Well, there's a tunnel that starts in the grounds here at Hogwarts. Besides, the darkness doesn't really matter. It's when the moon is up that he's transformed." 

"Really? Where is the tunnel?" asked Tibby curiously. 

"At the base of the Whomping Willow, that way nobody that doesn't know how to get past it can go near Remus when he's transformed. Pretty clever of Dumbledore, really." added James. 

"Oh...so that's why --" Lily gasped in horror. "Oh my God! Snape!" said Lily, jumping up. 

"Snape?" said James in confusion. "What's he got to do with anything?" 

"Sirius!" she said this time to Tibby, who didn't understand her cryptic remarks any better than James did. 

"Lil," said Tibby slowly, "Are you going to start making sense soon?" 

"Listen!" she exclaimed, turning to James, "When I was in detention I heard Sirius telling Snape that all he had to do to get past the Whomping Willow was to prod a knot with a stick! Don't you see?!" 

James' eyes widened in horror. "Snape's going to try to get in! He doesn't know that Remus is a werewolf!" he turned to his friend, "Peter! The map!" 

"Oh. Oh...shit, oh shit, this is bad." Tibby was muttering under her breath. 

Peter looked quite bewildered. Then looked as if he got it and started rumaging in his pockets, eventually producing a crumpled piece of paper. 

James grabbed it from him, pointed his wand at it and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." 

"What the hell --" started Tibby but stopped when she and Lily saw ink lines speading all over the paper until they were recognizable as a map of Hogwarts! 

James looked at it for only a second before he dropped it and bolted through the portrait hole, disappearing before anyone could say anything else. 


	6. Chapter Six: Panic and Decisions

disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing, otherwise I'd be sitting on a billion bucks or so...   
A/N: This is what I think likely happened when Sirius tried to get Snape killed by telling him how to get near Lupin under a full moon. Set in Marauder's/MWPP era, in their 6th year. Lily's POV.   
I thought this was one piece of history that needed some filling in. I hope I'm accurately representing the characters and their (possible) relationships at this time. Please read and review.   
I should also note that I've done a _slight_ tweaking of The Most Ancient and Noble Black Family Tree. So I guess the story now falls under the category of A/U (alternate universe). But it doesn't widely affect the plot, and it is only a minor character (who I'm starting to quite enjoy writing!) that gets tweaked into the story, so I hope I am right in believing that the purists will forgive me? ;-) 

A great big "Hello" and "THANK YOU" to everyone who has read it and everyone who has reviewed. (Again, sorry about the delay! I think I've got back into the story again, so hopefully I'll get the next chapter up soon!) (The Habs won the game tonight, so I'm breathing a little easier and can focus on other things...such as fanfiction!....for the time being.)   
(And sorry for the ever-increasing length of this author's note. I just never know when to shut up!)   
  
-------------------------------- 

The three remaining Gryffindors stood staring at each other, in shock. The Map had drifted to the floor beside the silvery fabric that Lily had noticed James holding. 

After a moment Lily bent down to retrieve the Map. Her face was transfixed in amazement as she took in the detailed lines that drew the Common Room, the corridor outside, the stairs leading downwards, and all of the school and grounds. _No, wonder those guys get away with everything! ... With a map like this, you could go anywhere in the castle!_

Peter and Tibby had leaned in to look at the map as well. "There's James!" Peter pointed one of his stubby fingers at a moving dot labeled 'James Potter'. 

"It looks like he's heading outside," said Lily, as her eyes travelled ahead of James' moving figure on the map, out towards the grounds. "And look! There's Snape! He's just got outside!" 

They watched in horror as they saw Snape slowly making his way towards the Whomping Willow. 

"We've got to do something! We've got to go after them as well!" Said Lily. 

"No!" cried Tibby and Peter in unison. "It's too dangerous for us to go out there." said Tibby 

Lily made to leave anyways, "I'm not going to stand around waiting for them to get killed!" 

Tibby grabbed Lily's arm to stop her from going. "Well getting yourself killed isn't going to help matters, now is it? We should have stopped James from going," said Tibby, "it won't do any good if he catches up with Snape but gets attacked too!" 

A jolt of panic and horror, and a feeling Lily couldn't quite explain was suddenly present in her stomach. _We have to do something! But what?_

"I don't think we have to worry about James, too much..." said Peter in a strained voice, as though he was holding himself back from saying something else. 

"What do you mean?" demanded Lily. "He's in as much danger as Snape if he goes after them!" 

"James knows how to....handle himself around a werewolf, okay?" 

"He knows how to Handle himself around...? Look, we can't just stand here." Said Tibby. "We should go and get help." 

"Dumbledore." whispered Lily. She started quickly for the portrait hole. "I'm going to go get Dumbledore." and clambered out past the Fat Lady. 

She was immediately followed by Peter and Tibby. She turned around to face them. "Look, we should probably split up. I'll go and tell Dumbledore what's happened and you two go and get Madam Pomfrey....I assume she knows about Remus too?" she directed her question towards Peter who nodded. 

"Right." With that she turned around and sprinted off down the corridor towards Dumbledore's office. 

_I just hope Dumbledore will be able to do something._

Lily suddenly felt a little childish running to the Headmaster's office. Running to a teacher to make everything better...seemed like something she would have done as a first- or second-year student. _But there's nothing else to be done. None of us can go out there, to stop Snape or James from getting hurt without running the same risk ourselves._

Lily felt a little ashamed that Potter was out there risking his neck when the rest of them just ran to the teachers. Then she remembered what Peter had said "James knows how to handle himself around a werewolf..." _Fine. I'm not going to worry about James Potter..._ She thought this with a slight bitterness. _But in any case, I need to do the right thing. And the right thing is to tell Dumbledore._

She felt more determined when she reached the hidden entrance to Dumbledore's office. "Treacle Tart" she said, gasping for air and clutching a stitch in her side. In the back of her mind she made a mental note to exercise more as the staircase appeared and she found her way into the office. 

_I don't know if telling Dumbledore will help anything....but if anyone can help, it's him._

Still breathless, she knocked on the door. 


	7. Chapter Seven: Dumbledore to the Rescue ...

Disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing, otherwise I'd be sitting on a billion bucks or so... 

A/N: This is what I think likely happened when Sirius tried to get Snape killed by telling him how to get near Lupin under a full moon. Set in Marauder's/MWPP era, in their 6th year. Lily's POV.   
I thought this was one piece of history that needed some filling in. I hope I'm accurately representing the characters and their (possible) relationships at this time. Please read and review.   
I should also note that I've done a slight tweaking of The Most Ancient and Noble Black Family Tree. So I guess the story now falls under the category of A/U (alternate universe). But it doesn't widely affect the plot, and it is only a minor character (who I'm starting to quite enjoy writing!) that gets tweaked into the story, so I hope I am right in believing that the purists will forgive me? ;-) 

And I'm so very sorry for the big delay. I think it's been ten days since my last post, but ack! So many things have been getting in the way! I'm sorry this is, again, kind of short, but I think I'll have the next chapter up more quickly this time. *hugs* 

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The door to Dumbledore's office opened and Lily rushed in. 

"Professor!" The Headmaster had been sitting at his desk, writing, when the 6th-year Prefect burst into the office. Falwkes the phoenix chirped in greeting to her, but she took no notice. 

"Lily, this is a surprise. What's troubling you?" his calm voice seemed to reduce her sense of panic a little. 

"Professor, someone told Snape how to get past the Whomping Willow but he doesn't know Remus Lupin is a werewolf and so we saw-- we think Snape is going to try and get in and then Ja-- Potter went to go and stop him but he might not be able to warn Snape in time and they could both get killed!" Lily said this in one breath, but thankfully Dumbldore seemed to have understood. 

He rose from his chair and walked around the desk to stand in front of her. "Are you quite sure it is just the two of them that have gone to the Willow?" He said quickly. 

"Yes." replied Lily. 

Dumbledore then strode out of the office, followed by Lily. _I can't beleive I just covered up for that lot. Perhaps I should have told him whose fault it was and about that map they have..._ Despite her worries Lily reminded herself that the urgency of the situation hadn't called for details, anyway. _If questions are asked later....well... I'll cross that bridge when I come to it._

When they had decended a few flights of stairs he turned to Lily, "Could you please alert Madam Pomfrey that her assistance may be needed shortly." he said this in a very calm voice, but something in it told her that he was worried. 

"Tibby and Peter just went to go tell her and -- Oh. There they are now." 

Madam Pomfrey was walking into the Entrance Hall accomanied by the two fellow Gryffindors. 

"Poppy I need you to be ready in case the worst happens." Dumbledore then turned to the three students, "I would like you three to return to Gryffindor Tower." Seeing the looks on their faces, he added "You will be alerted as to what has happened when we can ensure the safety of your classmates." 

Reluctantly, Lily, Tibby and Peter made their way to Gryffindor Tower. They were silent as they entered the Common Room, each in their own thoughts wondering what was happening outside. 

Tibby re-lit the fire and sat staring at it in a chair, her arms folded. Peter busied himself by gathering and folding up the Map and the silvery cloth. Lily did not know what to do with herself. 

Again she felt panic and fear rise in her. She felt frustrated that she couldn't do anything other than wait. She began pacing back and forth on the threadbare carpet in front of the fireplace. _I just hope that they nothing happens to them_ -- 

And there it was again -- a feeling she couldn't quite describe. Obviously she was worried about whether or not James -- and Snape -- would get away in time... but it was more than that. She hated to admit it, but what she was really wondering about was... _what if_ -- 

"Lily," said Tibby in a quiet voice, "could you please stop pacing? It's making me nervous." 

Before Lily could reply the portrait hole opened and out of it climbed James Potter. 


	8. Chapter Eight: Answers

Disclaimer: Obviously I own nothing, otherwise I'd be sitting on a billion bucks or so... 

A/N: This is what I think likely happened when Sirius tried to get Snape killed by telling him how to get near Lupin under a full moon. Set in Marauder's/MWPP era, in their 6th year. Lily's POV.   
I thought this was one piece of history that needed some filling in. I hope I'm accurately representing the characters and their (possible) relationships at this time. Please read and review.   
I should also note that I've done a slight tweaking of The Most Ancient and Noble Black Family Tree. So I guess the story now falls under the category of A/U (alternate universe). But it doesn't widely affect the plot, and it is only a minor character (who I'm starting to quite enjoy writing!) that gets tweaked into the story, so I hope I am right in believing that the purists will forgive me? ;-) 

btw, I'm moving this weekend so don't expect anything until next week at the very earliest. *hugs* to all the readers! 

PS. you know...I think there IS something in chocolate that makes a person feel better. Maybe it's just the sugar and caffiene. 

----------------------------------- 

He looked pale and grim, and his hair was even more messed up than usual. 

A wave of relief swept over Lily. _Safe_. 

All three of them stared at James, expecting him to say something. James, however said nothing, but simply walked over to the couch, and sat down heavily next to Peter. 

"Well?" started Tibby. "Aren't you going to tell us what happened?!" 

James sighed. "Snape's fine. Close call, though." he said, leaning to rest his head on the sofa's back. 

"How close?" asked Peter. 

"He was in the tunnel before I reached him." said James, his eyes closed. "Moon -- Remus had already transformed but was at the far end of the tunnel. I grabbed Snape and we got out before Remus sensed us there. If Snape had gone further into the tunnel, it would have been too late, I think." James still sounded as though something was really wrong. 

"Well it's all right then, isn't it?" said Lily. "Nobody was hurt." 

James eyes opened and he sat up straight to look at Lily. "It's not all right. Snape saw Remus in werewolf form." Bitterness was strong in his voice. 

Peter groaned. 

"Well, Dumbledore'll make Snape promise not to tell anyone, right? And then it'll be fine." said Tibby. 

"You don't understand. You didn't see Snape. He's been trying to figure out where Remus goes every month for ages. Not only will he want to tell everyone about Remus so that he can get revenge on him -- and all of us, in a way -- but he's frurious. He kept calling Sirius a -- a murderer. We were yelling and arguing and not far away from duelling when Dumbledore showed up. He was still trying to calm Snape downstairs when I left them. And -- oh. By the way, Dumbledore wants to see us all in his office after class tomorrow." 

"Snivelly's going to go nuts with this information." Said Peter. "It's almost a shame you did rescue him, James." 

"How can you say that?!" exclaimed Lily. "Just because you don't get along with him is no reason to want him dead!" 

She glanced back at James. _At least he had the sense to know that_. 

"And it seems as though Sirius is almost as good as a murderer, for him to trick Snape like that, knowing he'd go." continued Lily. 

"Don't you talk about Sirius like that! He's not a murderer!" snapped James. 

Lily was visibly taken aback by this. _It's not as though I've never insulted the bunch of them before this. Why is he so upset about it?_. 

"James," said Tibby admonishingly, "you have to admit, it seems as though Sirius did intend Snape harm. He must have known Snape would try to get past the Whomping Willow." 

James leaned back against the sofa again and stared at the ceiling, apparently not wanting to answer her. After a moment he said, "Where is Sirius anyways? Wasn't he in detention with you, Evans?" 

"Yes, but McGonagall let Snape and I out earlier. I imagine he's still there, Potter." replied Lily coolly. 

Nobody spoke after that, as they sat, apparently all waiting to hear Sirius's side of the story. 

Lily sat in one of the armchairs, while James began to pace back and forth in front of the Common Room's big window, occasionally stopping to stare out at the now fully visible moon. The moon looked larger than normal; it was a red-orange colour tonight. A harvest moon. Lily was watching James' dark silhouette against the bright moon when the portrait hole burst open. 

"Hello, all!" Sirius strode into the Common Room. "D'you know, James, next time I do something stupid I'm bringing you down with me; that had to be the most boring detention I've ever had." Sirius plunked himself down on the couch beside Peter, and putting his feet on the coffee table, yawned widely. 

He then became aware that everyone in the room was staring at him incredulously. "What?" he asked. "Something I said?" 


	9. Chapter Nine: The Lecture

**Disclaimer: I don't own it. (otherwise jkrowling.cm would be my homepage, and I'd have a few extra billion $ lying around, wouldn't I?) **

Author's note: Well, well, well. Look who it is? It's me, adding another chapter! Weren't expecting that, now were you? (end of sarcasm) Haha...sorry it's been so long. A number of things got in the way. This chapter is not as long as it seemed while writing it...so sorry if it's a wee bit short. It was weird while writing it, but it has fairly serious feel to it. Anyways, I hope you enjoy it and I'll try to get another chapter up sooner rather than later. Thanks again for reading and reviewing! You guys are the best! 

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The next day, when their classes had finished James, Lily, Peter, Tibby, Sirius, Remus and Snape went to see Dumbledore in his office. 

It was a very sober meeting. They soon discovered that their Headmaster did not see this as an isolated incident, nor did he believe that this was another harmless prank. He impressed upon them the seriousness of what could have happened the previous night. Many lives could have been in danger, had they not taken the right route of action. In addition, Dumbledore was very aggrieved to see that the animosity which had existed within the group of students for so long, erupt in such a fashion. 

Lily herself began to realize that she hadn't always been fair to the others, either. Her quickness to become irritated by the Gryffindor boys often led to more arguments and disruption that was needed. And despite how despicable she had always seen the fights between them and Snape, she saw (and hoped the others did, too) that they just kept provoking each other into constant battles for attention or for pride. It was pointless, and if they just stopped attacking each other (both verballing and with magic) they might at least be able to be civil. 

She was especially glad that it appeared as though James, Sirius, Remus, Peter and Snape were at least listening to Dumbledore. _Whether or not they take his advice is another story altogether...but perhaps now they'll stop their petty bickering._

But what made them feel childish the most was when their Headmaster brought up the subject of Voldemort. 

"All of you here are very strong and capable wizards and witches." His blue-eyed gaze reached each of them solemnly, as though ensuring that they knew he meant what he said. "In times of such turmoil, it seems doubly futile that we be fighting amongst ourselves." At this point she noticed James and Sirius exchange a look and glance darkly over at Snape. Lily was also skeptical if Snape was on Dumbledore's side. He'd called Lily a "mudblood" one time too many for her to believe in his goodness. _But on the other hand, perhaps this is Dumbledore's way of trying to convince Snape? He's talking to him as if he's right with us._

"I cannot demand," he continued, "that you all be friends." The looks on the boys' faces told him they did not fancy being pals with Snape. "But, I can ask you to give each other the respect the other deserves." The Headmaster looked them all in the eyes again. "And I think it possible, when it is necessary, that one must learn to work and get along with those one doesn't usually like." One could practically feel the disagreement of the students in the room, but they still listened. "This goes not only for inside the classroom and at Hogwarts, but in the rest of your lives. You are always bound to find people who don't agree with you on certain subjects, or who don't appeal to you, but that is no reason to wage war against them." 

He finished off by reminding them not to spread the fact that Remus Lupin was a werewolf and that it was wrong to exploit that. Surprisingly enough, they were not given detention. They lost points from Gryffindor and Slytherin, and after their talk with Dumbledore they all felt the worse for it; he had the effect of making a person feel ashamed of themselves for having dissappointed him. 

When they were leaving Dumbledore called Sirius back to have a private talk with him. Sirius had not returned yet as Lily and Tibby made their way to the Girls' dormitory. 

The next morning broke with a very grey sky and the sun shining weakly from beyond the clouds. 

"Looks like it'll rain." said Tibby, staring up at the ceiling in the Great Hall. 

"Yep." said James. "Won't be good for Quidditch Practice." 

"Yeah, I'm post-poning it to thursday." 

"Oh. Okay." James went back to shoving his breakfast around his plate with his fork. 

Nobody much felt like conversation that morning. Remus and Sirius had been dead silent since yesterday. Peter was glancing nervously between them and kept making lousy jokes and then checking to see if anyone had cheered up yet. Lily observed Snape glaring in their direction once or twice, but other than that, they hadn't heard a peep from him since the following night. Lily remembered the beginning of their meeting with Dumbledore... 

"They tried to kill me!" Snape had yelled, pointing at the Gryffindors. _Some joke._ Sirius's excuse had been nothing more than "He deserved it...the sneaky, greasy, slimeball." He hadn't said this in Snape's or Dumbledore's presence, of course. Immediately after Sirius's entrance into the Common Room on the night of the full moon, they had badgered him with questions. At first he laughed, thinking they were pulling his leg. He hadn't elaborated very much more, but Lily assumed he didn't want to say anything more in front of Lily and Tibby. 

As they were heading off to bed, Tibby had said "I don't think Sirius really told us why he did it. Even James didn't look convinced. But I think I heard Sirius say to James that he'd tell him later." 

"Yeah," said Lily, "he's probably the only one that will get the full story." 

"I just can't believe Sirius could be so...vicious. It's not like him, really. There's got to be something else behind all this." 

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**A/N: I'm really terrible at coming up with chapter titles.**


	10. Another Lousy Author's Note

Hi all.... 

Okay. I'm sorry, but this isn't a chapter.... ducks random objects thrown by readers. Yeah, it's just another lousy author's note. 

I've been thinking long and hard about where this story is going, and I came up with a huge tangle of storylines that sort of spread out...into different stories. So I'm trying to work out how to include them all. Part of the problem is that I can only go so far with this story if it continues to be from Lily's POV. So....There's going to be a "Harvest Moon Part 2" (I'll come up with a better title at some point, I promise!), which will shift from various view points. I'm going to have plenty of time next week to write (at least, I hope!!) So, you'll get lots then if all goes according to plan. 

The main reason why I'm putting this in here is to warn you that you won't be finding out Sirius's reasons in this story, but you will in the sequal. 

Anyways, I think there will be about one more chapter to go for this story, and then I'll start on the new one. 

THANK YOU so very very much for reading and reviewing. 

PS: I'll be seeing PoA on the big screen in 14 hours time, so hopefully I'll get some extra inspiration from that! 


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